s  JUL    2    1968   ' 

3X1148 
.C8T^ 


THE    WINE    QUESTION. 


J 

By  Nath'l  Hewit,  Pastor  of  the  Bridgeport  Congregational  Church,  Ct. 
Late  General  Agent  of  the  American  Temperance  Society. 


Bridgeport,  Ct.,  April  22d,  1839, 

Mr.  Editor, 

Dear  Sir  :  The  following  Address  was  written  by  me 
as  Chairman  of  a  Committee  appointed  by  a  Temperance 
Convention  held  in  Hartford,  Ct.,  in  September  1830.  Of 
the  Resolutions  adopted  by  that  Convention,  the  following 
only  are  selected  as  having  relation  to  the  address  itself,  and 
to  the  manner  in  which  it  was  suppressed : 

3.  Resolved,  That  while  the  Convention  review,  with 
gratitude  and  rejoicing,  the  progress  of  the  cause  under  the 
pledge  on  which  our  Societies  were  originally  established, 
yet,  in  their  view,  that  pledge  is  not  adapted  to  carry  out  the 
reformation,  inasmuch  as  it  only  recommends  and  requires 
abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks,  in  one  form,  while  other 
intoxicating  drinks,  calculated  to  cause  and  perpetuate 
intemperate  habits,  are  unnoticed,  and  apparently  counte- 
nanced ; — therefore,  this  Convention  recommend,  the  adop- 
tion, by  the  State,  and  all  local  Societies,  of  the  principle  of 
entire  abstinence  from  the  use,  as  a  beverage,  of  all  drinks 
that  can  intoxicate. 

13.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft 
an  address  to  the  people  of  the  State,  and  that  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  State  Society  be  requested  to  take  meas- 
ures to  have  said  address  extensively  circulated.     [Rev.  Dr. 

1 


2  THE   WINE    QUESTION. 

Hewit,  Hon.  R.  M.  Sherman  and  Rev.  Mr.  Lindsley,  were 
appointed  as  this  committee.  Mr.  Sherman  having  declin- 
ed, on  account  of  pressing  engagements,  Rev.  Mr.  Bacon 
was  substituted  in  his  place.] 

17.  Resolved,  That  the  proceeding  of  this  Convention, 
with  the  Address  to  be  prepared  by  the  committee  appoint- 
ed for  this  purpose,  be  printed  under  the  direction  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

My  address  was  submitted  to  my  colleagues,  and  with 
slight  alterations  it  was  approved  and  adopted  by  them,  and 
transmitted  to  John  T.  Norton,  Esq.,  of  Farmington,  the 
chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  State  Temper- 
ance Society.  Some  days  afterward  I  received  from  that 
gentleman  a  letter  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy. 

Farmington,  Oct.  25,  1836. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir :  The  address  to  the  people  of  the 
State,  prepared  by  you  under  the  resolution  of  the  late  Tem- 
perance Convention  has  been  received  by  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  State  Temperance  Society;  and  on  read- 
ing it,  whilst  they  are  interested  in  the  train  of  argument  and 
in  the  views  presented,  and  agree  fully  in  the  conclusions  and 
recommendations,  yet  they  feel  some  embarrassment  in 
relation  to  publishing  it  entire,  and  they  have  concluded 
therefore  to  go  frankly  to  yourself  and  state  their  difficulties. 
No  Temperance  convention  has  been  held  in  the  United 
States  so  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  harmony  as  the  one 
lately  held  at  Hartford  ;  and  the  resolutions  anil  proceedings 
which  the  committee  intend  to  publish  and  circulate  as  soon 
as  the  address  is  ready,  are  such  as  the  Convention  ap- 
proved, with  almost  entire  unanimity,  and  they  are  such  as 
will,  they  believe,  unite  all  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  action, 
although  they  may  not  all  arrive  at  their  conclusions  pre- 
cisely in  the  same  way. 

Your  address  the  committee  would  be  glad  to  see  pub- 
lished entire  with  your  name  to  it ;  as  they  believe  it  would 
influence  a  large  number  of  the  good  friends  of  the  cause  to 
more  decided  action.  But  it  seems  to  them  that  an  address 
from  the  Convention,  to  the  people  of  the  State,  should  con- 
form entirely  with  the  resolutions  and  spirit  of  the  Conven- 
tion, and  be  adapted  to  general  circulation  amongst  all  classes 
and  denominations  of  people. 

The  committee  fear  that  some  parts  of  your  address  will 


THE    WINE    QUESTION.  3 

be  considered  as  not  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  as  expressing  your  particular  views  and  the 
views  of  a  part  only  of  the  members  of  that  body.  The 
question  they  have  asked  themselves  has  been,  Would  the 
Convention  have  approved  of  the  address  entire?  They 
are  compelled  to  adopt  the  opinion  that  it  would  not.  They 
may  be  mistaken,  but  such  being  their  opinion,  they  can  do 
no  other  than  submit  the  matter  again  to  you,  and  ask  you  to 
take  it  into  consideration  and  favor  them  with  your  views  on 
the  subject. 

So  much  time  has  elapsed  since  the  Convention,  that  the 
committee  feel  very  desirous  that  as  little  additional  delay 
shall  take  place  as  possible,  and  they  take  the  liberty  there- 
fore to  ask  if  they  may  use  the  address,  omitting  some  points 
and  expressions  upon  which  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion 
amongst  the  sound  friends  of  the  cause  ?  They  propose  this, 
only  in  the  event  that  your  time  will  not  permit  you  to  do 
it  yourself,  in  case  you  consent  to  do  it  at  all.  The  altera- 
tions of  course  to  be  submitted  to  you  before  publication. 

The  Committee  would  state  explicitly  (lest  you  should 
fear  their  ultraism)  that  they  have  never  been  on  the  "sin 
per  se"  ground,  and  they  deprecate  all  and  every  interfer- 
ence on  the  part  of  Temperance  Societies  with  the  question 
of  the  use  of  wine  at  the  communion.  There  were  individ- 
uals in  the  Convention,  however,  who  voted  for  the  resolu- 
tions, who  think  it  a  sin  to  use  alcoholic  drinks  as  a  bever- 
age under  any  circumstances,  and  there  were  those  who 
think  that  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  should  be  used 
at  the  communion.  These  questions,  and  the  relative  grade 
of  intoxicating  drinks  on  the  great  scale  of  drunkenness  were 
purposely  kept  out  of  view  in  the  resolutions,  as  questions 
that  the  Convention  could  not  settle,  and  with  which  they 
should  have  nothing  to  do. 

The  committe  propose  to  publish  a  sketch  of  the  remarks 
of  the  principal  speakers  on  the  1st  and  3d  resolutions,  and 
also  the  remarks  of  yourself,  Mr.  Hacon,  and  Professor  Good- 
rich on  the  resolution  offered  by  the  latter  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting.  Will  it  be  convenient  for  you  to  furnish  a  sketch 
of  your  remarks  ? 

The  committee  make  this  communication  with  feelings  of 
the  utmost  respect,  and  with  a  sincere  desire  as  far  as  possible 
to  be  governed  by  your  views  and  to  profit  by  your  wisdom 
and  experience.  By  order  of  the  Committee, 

John  T.  .Norton,  Chairman. 


4  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

In  my  reply  to  the  above  letter,  I  refused  to  admit  of  any 
alteration  in  the  text  of  the  address,  but  granted  the  com- 
mittee my  consent  to  their  prefixing  or  annexing  to  it  what 
they  pleased  in  their  own  names.  After  two  months  delay, 
I  received  the  following  ultimate  decision  of  that  committee. 

Farmington,  Dec.  26th,  1836. 

My  Dear  Sir :  I  intended  before  this  to  have  sent  you 
the  enclosed  manuscript,  but  I  have  been  much  absent  my- 
self,  and  it  has  been  difficult  to  get  the  views  of  the  gentle- 
men with  whom  I  am  associated  on  the  State  Temperance 
committee  in  relation  to  its  publication,  owing  to  their  resid- 
ing at  a  distance  from  each  other. 

The    committe  still  think  it  does  not  express  the  views 
of  the  Convention,  and  as  no  means  were  provided  to  defray 
the  expenses  of   publication,  the  committee  do  not  feel  bound 
to  publish  it,  as  they  do  not  feel  disposed  to  pay  the  expense 
themselves,  nor  could  they  under  such  circumstances  solicit 
means  from  others.      The  proceedings  of  the   Convention 
will   also  go  unpublished,  unless  the    committee  should    by 
and  by    issue  a  pamphlet    containing  some  statistical  infor- 
mation which  they  are  collecting,  when  they  might  publish 
the  resolutions  adopted,  and  such  of  the  speeches  delivered 
at  the  Convention  as  they  have  been  able  to  obtain. 
I  remain,  with  sincere  respect  and  affection, 
Your  friend  and  ob't  serv't. 
Rev.  Dr.  Hewit.  John  T.  Norton. 

I  forbear  all  comment  on  these  extraordinary  proceed- 
ings. They  speak  for  themselves.  I  should  not,  in  this 
public  manner,  advert  to  them,  or  attempt  to  publish  what 
that  respectable  committee  deemed  it  their  duty  to  suppress, 
in  violation  of  all  the  usages  of  the  civilized  world,  were  it 
not  that  1  am  represented  by  various  persons  as  an  apostate 
from  my  principles,  and  an  enemy  of  that  great  and  good 
work,  which  I  formerly  labored  to  promote.  I  give  you 
that  address  without  alteration.  It  contains  my  present 
views,  and  my  practice  is  conformable  to  them. 

Yours  truly, 

N.  Hewit. 


THE    WINE    QUESTION. 


ADDRESS, 

To  the  Friends  of  Temperance  in  Connecticut. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  proceedings  of  the  Convention, 
we  would  respectfully  urge  on  you  a  renewed  and  vigorous 
support  of  the  great  and  good  work  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
The  Temperance  reform  has  lost  its  novelty  without  losing 
any  thing  of  its  importance.  After  all  that  has  been  done, 
which  is  indeed  prodigious,  intemperance  in  every  form  of 
it  remains  amongst  us,  and  new  victims  are  daily  slaughtered 
at  its  altars.  We  have,  moreover,  reason  to  fear,  that  in 
some  places  there  is  of  late  an  increased  consumption  of 
spirituous  liquors  ;  that  in  such  places  they  are  both  sold  and 
drank  more  openly  than  at  any  time  since  Temperance  Soci- 
eties were  introduced  amongst  us.  This  deplorable  relapse 
is  doubtless  to  be  attributed  in  a  great  measure  to  local 
causes  ;  and  we  should  regard  them  as  temporary  and  easily 
obviated,  if  there  were  not  also  generally  in  our  State  a  man- 
ifest decline  in  zeal  and  activity  in  many  of  the  members  of 
our  Society,  and  a  growing  indifference  to  the  whole  sub- 
ject in  the  people  at  large.  To  revive  our  decaying  zeal, 
and  to  awaken  again  universal  attention  to  this  momen- 
tous object,  the  late  Convention  was  called.  The  effect  of 
its  deliberations  on  ourselves,  is  in  a  high  degree  propitious. 
Confidence  is  restored  and  prejudices  are  removed.  With 
united  views  and  resolutions,  we  purpose  to  renew  our  joint 
labors,  and  advance  together  as  one.  Should  the  sentiments 
which  prevailed  in  the  Convention  pervade  and  control  all 
the  Societies  of  our  State,  we  shall  confidently  anticipate, 
under  the  Divine  blessing,  a  general  revival  of  the  Temper- 
ance cause  on  solid  and  enduring  principles. 

The  main  design  of  this  Address,  is  briefly  to  state  what 
were  the  opinions  of  the  Convention  on  the  chief  causes  of 
the  present  unpromising  state  of  the  Temperance  reform, 
and  the  means  of  remedying  the  evil. 

Before  we  proceed  to  do  this,  it  should  be  premised,  that 
this  benevolent  enterprise  shares  in  common  with  the  other 
charitable  and  religious  interests  of  our  country,  in  the  disas- 


6  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

trous  effects  of  the  selfish  and  worldly  spirit  which  rages  with 
extraordinary  virulence  throughout  the  land,  and  we  may 
add,  throughout  the  Christian  world.  If  all  other  institutions 
of  charily  and  piety  were  in  a  healthful  and  prosperous  con- 
dition, and  the  Temperance  Society  alone  was  falling  to 
decay,  we  might  well  suspect  that  it  was  not  worthy  to  live. 
But  we  may  derive  consolation  and  hope  from  the  reflec- 
tion, that  as  our  cause  is  depressed  alike  with  the  ordi- 
nances of  God  and  the  word  of  his  grace,  it  shall  revive 
again  when  "  he  shall  appear  in  his  glory,  and  build  up 
Zion."  This  consideration  ought  to  restrain  us  from  imput- 
ing all  the  embarrassments  under  which  the  Temperance 
cause  now  labors  to  any  thing  peculiar  to  itself.  If  every 
person  and  thing  appertaining  to  our  great  and  good  institu- 
tion were  faultless,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  forthwith  would 
flourish  and  prevail :  for  the  "  word  of  God  is  perfect,"  yet 
it  has  not  "free  course,"  nor  is  it  "glorified"  in  the  conver- 
sion of  all  men.  We  say  these  things,  not  to  preclude  an 
unsparing  scrutiny  into  the  faults  of  temperance  men  and 
measures,  but  to  the  end  that  we  may  proceed  therein  cau- 
tiously, and  avoid  the  groundless  inference,  that  because  the 
temperance  work  is  in  a  measure  at  a  stand,  and  there  is  "a 
strike"  among  some  of  the  "  hands,"  it  must  of  necessity 
arise  from  defects  inherent  in  the  system  itself,  or  be  laid 
exclusively  at  the  door  of  any  portion  of  its  friends. 

We  ought,  moreover,  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  temper- 
ance system  is  still  in  its  infancy.  Whatever  may  be  said 
of  the  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors  which  has  at  any 
time  heretofore  obtained  among  other  nations,  it  is  in  vari- 
ous important  respects  totally  unlike  the  temperance  reform 
of  our  own.  The  ancient  oriental  philosophy  taught  the 
monstrous  dogma,  that  the  matter  of  which  man's  body  is 
composed  is  substantial  wickedness,  and  it  proscribed  all 
inebriating  drinks  as  well  as  generous  meats,  because  they 
nourished  and  excited  a  man  of  sin.  Infected  and  corrupted 
by  this  philosophy  many  Christian  sects  in  the  early  ages 
practised  all  manner  of  bodily  mortifications,  hoping  to  kill 
the  vices  of  the  soul  by  the  emaciation  of  the  body.  Ma- 
homet interdicted  wine  to  his  disciples,  with  the  crafty  design 
of  erecting  an  insurmountable  "  wall  of  partition"  between 
them  and  all  Christians,  and  of  deposing  Christ  from  his 
supremacy  by  abolishing  the  visible  symbol  of  his  authority 
in  that "  cup  of  the  New  Testament  in  his  blood."    That  wily 


THE    WINE    QUESTION.  7 

impostor  discovered  the  infallible  connection  between  the  be- 
lief that  wine  is  in  all  cases  pernicious  to  men,  and  the  conse- 
quent abhorrence  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  ancient 
schools  of  the  athletas  subjected  their  disciples  to  rigid  abste- 
miousness, that  they  might  emulate  the  brutes  in  their  phys- 
ical powers:  to  run  as  the  horse,  and  to  fight  as  the  bear  and 
the  dog.  For  temporary  or  sinister  ends,  all  manner  of  per- 
sons have  voluntarily  undergone  privations  both  of  flesh  and 
wine  ;  for  it  is  nothing  new  or  strange  for  men  to  feed  some 
one  master  appetite  or  passion  on  the  sacrifice  of  others.  But, 
we  trust,  our  own  temperance  system  has  a  higher  origin,  a 
purer  character,  and  a  better  end  than  any  of  these.  It  is 
not  the  offspring  of  a  false  philosophy,  or  a  spurious  reli- 
gion. Its  life  and  vigor  depend  not  on  the  corrupt  passions 
or  perverted  opinions  of  sects  and  parties.  It  is  not  a  tool 
or  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  crafty  and  ambitious.  In  its 
legitimate  character  it  is  most  simple  and  pure.  Without 
an  interpreter  it  can  be  read  and  understood  of  all  men.  It 
needs  not  the  subtleties  of  the  schools  for  its  exposition  and 
defence.  It  asks  not  the  patronage  of  a  party,  nor  is  it 
dependent  on  the  learned  and  the  great.  In  a  word,  it  is  a 
grace  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  brought  forth  from  its  long 
seclusion  in  the  kingdom  of  wisdom  and  mercy,  and  embod- 
ies in  a  social  form,  and  made  visible  and  accessible  to  all. 
Mankind  wanted  no  prophet  to  reveal  to  them  the  evils  of 
intemperate  drinking.  Every  family  almost,  had  a  domestic 
altar  to  this  obscene  and  bloody  demon.  The  father  or  the 
son  was  the  prophet  and  the  priest  and  victim.  It  was  a 
reformer  and  redeemer  which  was  needed,  who  should  enter 
in  and  abide  with  every  household,  that  he  might  be  ever  at 
hand  to  help  in  the  time  of  need.  The  temperance  plan  is 
that  deliverer.  By  bitter  experience  the  people  had  learned 
the  mischiefs  of  spirituous  liquors,  and  on  the  other  hand  a  few 
had  been  taught  by  experience  the  safety  and  blessings  of 
entire  abstinence  from  distilled  spirits.  The  few  brought 
forth  their  experience  for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of 
the  many  ;  and  for  the  sake  of  expedition  and  efficiency  em- 
bodied their  wisdom  and  example  in  the  forms  of  a  social 
compact,  and  put  on  the  livery  of  a  new  and  distinct  commu- 
nity. The  temperance  system  therefore  is  a  plain,  simple, 
common  sense,  matter-of-fact  affair,  remote  from  all  mystery 
and  complexity  :  an  every  day  homespun  concern.  Jt  was 
fondly  hoped  by  its  first  promoters,  that  it  would  be  let  alone 


8  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

by  all  curious  and  meddlesome  persons  ;  and  be  allowed  to 
spread  over  the  land  like  air,  and  water,  and  sunshine,  for 
the  benefit  of  any  body  and  every  body,  without  being  altered 
and  fixed,  now  to  this  one's  notions,  and  now  to  that  one's  : 
that  it  would  escape  the  toils  of  party-spirit,  and  never  be- 
come a  subject  for  wits  and  philosophers  to  write  and  dis- 
pute about.  But  these  perils  have  beset  the  temperance 
reform  early  in  its  career  ;  and  we  have  new  evidence  of 
the  humiliating  truth,  that  the  gifts  of  God,  either  in  nature, 
providence,  or  grace,  cannot  be  put  into  the  hands  of  men 
without  being  defiled  by  their  sooty  fingers  ;  for  the  hands 
of  the  best  of  men  are  not  spotless.  In  short,  the  temper- 
ance reform  is  in  the  hands  of  depraved  and  erring  men ; 
who  are  obliged  to  do  their  work  over  and  over  again,  before 
they  can  make  it  right ;  and  in  this  recent  combination  of 
multitudes  of  all  descriptions  of  mankind,  the  wonder  is, 
that  they  have  gone  on  together  so  long  and  so  well,  and 
not  that  they  have,  in  some  measure,  fallen  out  by  the  way. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  debates  and  divisions  among 
the  friends  of  temperance,  proceed  chiefly  from  conflicting 
opinions  about  the  propriety  of  putting  fermented  liquors  on 
a  level  with  distilled  spirits,  and  of  subjecting  them  to  the 
same  absolute  proscription.  We  intend  not  a  review  of  this 
controversy,  or,  in  our  representative  capacity  as  a  dele- 
gated Convention,  do  we  wish  to  be  understood  as  siding 
with  either  party  on  this  question.  We  shall  advert  to  so 
much  of  this  excitable  subject,  as  is  necessary  to  produce,  if 
it  be  possible,  mutual  forbearance  on  the  part  of  all  the 
upright  and  judicious  friends  of  the  common  cause.  And 
here  it  may  be  of  use  to  recur  to  an  ancient  controversy,  in 
some  repects  analogous  to  this.  In  the  apostolic  age  of  the 
Christian  church,  dissension  arose  amongst  the  Jewish  and 
Gentile  converts  about  "  meats  and  drinks."  Respecting 
these  contentions,  the  inspired  apostle  enjoined  on  all  parties 
to  "follow  after  the  things  which  make  for  peace,  and  the 
things  whereby  one  may  edify  another."  The  mode  of  con- 
ciliation which  he  proposed  we  find  in  Rom.  xiv.  1-3:  "Him 
that  is  weak  in  the  faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  dis- 
putations. For  one  believeth  that  lie  may  eat  all  things: 
another  who  is  weak,  eateth  herbs.  Let  not  him  that  eateth, 
despise  him  that  eateth  not;  and  let  not  him  that  eateth  not, 
judge  him  that  eateth  :  for  God  hath  received  him."  The 
Gentile  believer  regarded  the  scruples  of  his  Jewish  brother 


THE    WINE    QUESTION.  9 

with  contempt,  and  "despised"  him  for  his  ignorance  and 
stupidity  in  supposing  that  "  any  tiling  was  unclean  of  itsell." 
The  Jewish  convert,  on  the  other  hand,  abhorred  the  licen- 
tiousness of  his  Gentile  brother,  and  "judged"  him  as  guilty 
of  sin  in  eating  that  which  was  "unclean."  The  apostle 
adjusts  the  controversy  by  denominating  it  a  "doubtful  dis- 
putation." Both  parties  were  prohibited  from  pronouncing 
an  absolute  judgment  in  the  case,  and  each  left  to  the  free 
exercise  of  his  private  judgment,  subject  to  the  law  of 
"  walking  charitably"  with  differing  brethren.  In  like  man- 
ner, we  may  say  of  the  question,  whether  fermented  liquors 
are  of  the  same  species  as  distilled  spirits,  that  it  is  one  of 
"  doubtful  disputation."  The  learned  in  these  matters — 
the  "  doctors  of  the  law" — contend  about  it,  and  are  like  to, 
for  ought  we  can  see,  without  end.  At  any  rate,  it  is  an 
intricate  and  puzzling  question  for  the  multitude  of  mankind, 
whose  welfare,  be  it  remembered,  gives  to  the  temperance 
society  all  its  importance.  The  knowledge  of  men  in  gen- 
eral is  acquired  mainly  by  observation  and  experience,  and 
not  from  books  and  the  laboratories  of  philosophers.  Com- 
mon experience  manifests  several  points  of  difference  be- 
tween the  produce  of  a  cider-mill  and  the  produce  of  a  cider- 
still.  Dissolute  men  are  witnesses  to  a  material  diversity 
between  cider  and  cider-brandy ;  for  as  intemperate  drink- 
ers advance  downward  in  excessive  drinking,  they  pass  on- 
ward from  simple  cider  to  cider-brandy,  and  never  from 
cider-brandy  backward  to  mere  cider  when  both  are  equally 
at  their  option.  Sober  men,  (whose  sobriety  is  a  virtue  of 
the  mind  and  not  a  physical  habit  of  the  body,)  who  use  but 
never  abuse  simple  and  pure  cider,  and  other  fermented 
liquors  in  an  unadulterated  state,  feel  no  desire  for  the  fiery 
and  acid  spirits  of  the  still  ;  but  the  distempered  and  raging 
lust  of  the  drunkard  cannot  be  quieted  by  the  mild  stimulus 
of  simple  cider  or  pure  wine,  but  ravenously  demands  the 
hot  and  high  pressure  powers  of  the  spirits  of  cider  or  of 
wine.  The  common  terms  used  to  designate  these  articles, 
indicate  a  real  or  apparent  difference  between  them.  Wine, 
and  the  spirits  of  wine,  to  the  common  sort  of  people,  mean 
very  different  things.  Chemical  analysis,  it  is  true,  discloses 
the  fact  that  the  active  and  characteristic  property  of  these 
liquids  belongs  to  an  element  common  to  both.  In  like  man- 
ner the  laboratory  of  the  chemist  reveals  the  astonishing  fact 
that  the  diamond  and  charcoal  are  essentially  the  same  ;  yet 


If)  THE   WINE    QUESTION. 

common  observation  and  the  usages  of  mankind  make  no 
small  difference  between  diamonds  and  charcoal.  These 
observations  show  us  conclusively,  that  for  the  moral  and 
practical  uses  of  the  body  of  mankind,  it  will  never  do  for 
the  Temperance  Society  to  proceed  on  the  assumption  that 
there  is  not  a  material  difference  between  fermented  liquids 
and  distilled  spirits.  The  moral  duties  of  men  can  never 
rest  secure  on  doubtful  principles*  The  most  speedy  and 
effectual  method  of  corrupting  the  moral  character  of  man, 
is  to  impose  on  his  conscience  obligations  of  doubtful  author- 
ity. Hence  all  extravagance  both  in  religion  and  morals  is 
uniformly  succeeded  by  profanenesss  and  profligacy. 

It  remains  that  we  briefly  advert  to  another  most  mo- 
mentous relation  of  the  question  under  consideration.  How 
much  soever  the  advocates  of  an  indiscriminate  proscription 
of  all  fermented  liquors  may  deprecate  any  interference  on 
their  part  with  the  faith  and  worship  of  the  church  of 
Christ,  it  is  found,  in  fact,  impossible  to  prevent  it.  Just  as 
soon  as  it  was  perceived  that  statements  concerning  wine 
were  obtaining  credit  among  the  friends  of  temperance  soci- 
eties, which  bore  directly  on  the  Lord's  Supper  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  bring  into  question  the  propriety  of  using  wine 
in  its  observance,  great  numbers  of  professing  Christians, 
with  the  great  body  of  gospel  ministers,  took  the  alarm,  as 
well  they  might.  For  whatever  a  few  may  think  of  it,  it  is 
most  evident  to  every  sober-minded  and  well-informed  man, 
whether  he  be  a  member  of  the  church  or  not,  that  the  agi- 
tation of  that  question  in  the  church  would  be  followed  by 
the  most  pestilent  consequences.  Subjects  of  far  less  moment 
than  this,  have  gendered  bitter  and  lasting  strife,  and  split 
the  church  into  factions  and  separations.  Besides,  what 
conscientious  professor  of  religion  can  fail  of  discovering 
the  painful  and  perilous  state  which  every  humble  and  devout 
disciple  of  Christ  must  be  in,  if  he  is  made  to  doubt  whether 
he  is  not  guilty  of  sin  in  drinking  of  the  "  cup  of  the  New 
Testament  in  Christ's  blood."  Remember  those  axioms  of 
gospel  holiness,  "  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith,  is  sin,"  and  "  he 
that  doubteth  is  damned  if  he  eat,"  and  then  consider  the 
dreadful  predicament  of  every  sincere  and  upright  Christian, 
who  approaches  the  Lord's  table  with  the  doubt  festering  in 
his  mind,  that  peradventure  the  cup  of  wine  is  but"  a  broth 
of  abomination."  Can  any  man,  wonder  now,  that  the  pro- 
gress of  the  temperance  reform  when  it  seemed  to  turn  to- 


THE    WINE    QUESTION.  1  1 

wards  a  result  of  this  fearful  nature,  was  regarded  with  alarm 
by  the  great  body  of  pastors  and  churches  ?  Furthermore, 
the  tendency  of  certain  representations  of  the  nature  and 
effects  of  pure  wine,  which  have  been  extensively  made,  and 
we  fear,  believed,  reaches  if  possible  still  further  than  the 
effects  above  mentioned.  They  seem  to  touch  the  person 
of  Christ  himself,  and  bring  the  moral  perfection  of  his  hab- 
its and  example  into  doubt.  He  drank  wine:  the  same  in 
kind  of  which  other  men  drank,  and  which,  when  used  im- 
moderately, produced  intoxication.  His  enemies  took  ad- 
vantage of  this,  and  reproached  him  "  as  a  man  that  was  glut- 
tonous and  a  wine  bibber — a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners." 
The  defamers  of  Christ  appear  to  have  regarded  his  "eating 
and  drinking,"  either  as  intrinsically  vicious,  or  as  culpable 
because  it  seemed  to  countenance  publicans  and  sinners  in 
their  excesses,  or  both.  According  to  methods  of  reasoning 
adopted  by  some  in  our  day,  these  maligners  of  Christ  were 
in  the  right.  Those  who  speak  of  pure  wine  as  intrinsically 
pernicious,  and  those  who  affirm  that  although  it  be  not  itself 
deleterious,  yet  it  is  criminal  to  drink  it,  lest  the  example  be 
abused  by  others  to  their  temporal  and  eternal  ruin,  would 
do  well  most  seriously  to  inquire  whether  they  do  not  justify 
the  ancient  aspersions  cast  on  the  conduct  of  our  Lord. 
Hence  it  should  cease  to  be  a  matter  of  surprise  and  scandal, 
that  great  numbers  of  ministers  and  church  members  revolted 
at  sentiments,  the  apparent  tendency  of  which  is,  to  hold  up 
to  mankind  the  character  and  example  of  Christ,  as  prejudi- 
cial to  sound  morals  and  the  happiness  of  men. 

It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  add,  that,  if  temperance 
societies  insist  on  the  condemnation  of  unadulterated  wine, 
and  its  exclusion  from  the  church,  in  common  with  distilled 
spirits,  as  intrinsically  and  universally  mischievous,  they 
must  make  up  their  minds  to  witness  the  secession  of  the 
church  of  Christ  from  all  further  fellowship  with  them. 
And  as  the  temperance  reform  is  a  bough  of  the  church 
shooting  over  the  wall,  just  as  soon  as  it  is  cut  off  from  its 
parent  stock  it  will  wither  away  and  die — unless,  planted 
in  some  unhallowed  soil,  it  lives  to  bear  "the  grapes  of 
Sodom  and  the  clusters  of  Gomorrah."  We  ought  further 
to  consider  that  there  is  a  growing  jealousy  on  the  part  of 
many  Christians  of  the  highest  reputation  for  wisdom  and 
piety,  of  the  ultimate  efforts  of  self-constituted  societies,  aim- 
ing at  a  control  over  public  opinion,  and  composed  of  all 


12  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

manner  of  persons,  without  regard  to  their  principles  and 
characters,  save  in  that  point  of  union  which  is  the  heait 
and  core  of  their  respective  communities.  Whenever  any 
of  these  directly  intermeddle  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
"household  of  faith,"  and  attempt  to  give  laws  to  the  "  free- 
men of  the  Lord,"  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  intruders 
are  indignantly  repelled  ?  Where  no  direct  attempt  is 
made  on  the  independence  and  liberty  of  the  church,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  discern,  that,  through  those  individuals  who 
are  members  in  common  both  of  the  church  and  of  such 
societies,  the  church  may  be  brought  under  the  control  of 
bodies  of  men  foreign  to  itself.  For  "  as  no  man  can  serve 
two  masters,"  if  gospel  ministers  and  professing  Christians, 
as  the  members  of  the  Temperance  Society  for  example, 
imbibe  opinions  and  assume  obligations  which  in  any  one 
important  particular  interfere  with  the  faith,  worship  and 
discipline  of  the  churches,  they  must  of  course  so  far  forth 
as  they  are  honest  associates  of  their  temperance  brethren 
and  obedient  to  the  principles  of  that  society,  become  dis- 
sentient members  of  the  church.  Thus  circumstanced,  they 
must  either  "  walk  disorderly1'  in  the  church,  or  seek  to  in- 
novate on  its  customs,  and  propagate  in  it  the  new  views 
which  they  have  brought  with  tnem  from  abroad.  Aware 
of  this,  not  a  few  of  the  former  most  active  and  efficient 
friends  of  the  temperance  cause,  in  view  of  the  tendency 
of  much  that  has  been  said  and  attempted  in  regard  to 
wine,  and  governed  by  the  immutable  axiom  of  truth  and 
righteousness,  that  "  we  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
man"  have  of  late  stood  on  one  side,  "watching  whereunto 
this  new  thing  would  grow."  Not  to  dwell  further  on  this 
matter,  we  would  merely  state,  that  enough  has  been  said 
to  show,  that  the  further  agitation  of  the  wine  question,  in 
the  manner  and  form  of  much  of  the  recent  discussion  of  it, 
must  forthwith  cease,  if  we  would  not  dismember  our  so- 
cietis  and  thereby  inflict  on  them  a  mortal  wound. 

It  was  on  grounds  substantially  as  stated  above,  that 
the  Convention  came  to  the  harmonious  result,  of  making  in 
future  a  palpable  difference  in  practice  corresponding  to  the 
difference  in  belief,  which  obtains  with  the  great  body  of 
temperance  men.  This  difference  is  indicated  in  the  words 
and  phrases  employed  in  the  third  Resolution.  In  respect 
to  the  old  pledge  of  total  abstinence  from  distilled  spirits  jt 
remains  unaltered.     This  total  abstinence  is  required — 


THE   WINE    QUESTION.  13 

a  specific  pledge  to  that  effect  is  required.     In  regard  to 
fermented    liquors    (meaning    always  pure    unadulterated 
liquors)  a  principle— a  principle  in  distinction  from  a  pledge 
— is  recommended,  recommended,  not  required.     We  ear- 
nestly desire  that  the  difference  here  made,  may  be  carefully 
noted,    and  ingenuously  and  faithfully  recognised,  and  up- 
rightly and  perseveringly  observed  and  maintained.     To 
preclude  as  much  as  possible  all  opportunity  for  over-zealous 
individuals  to  misconstrue  and  misapply  the  terms  above 
employed,  we  will  endeavor  to  set  the  views  of  the  Conven- 
tion in  a  clear  light,  and  give  "  a  certain  sound"  to  their  Res- 
olution.    This  can  be  done  in  the  easiest  and  most  perspic- 
uous manner,  by  referring  to  an   analogous  case  recorded 
in  the  New-Testament — the  community  of  goods  amongst 
believers,  which  prevailed  for  a  time  in  Jerusalem.     In  that 
case,  several  of  the  first  converts  to  Christ,  "  having  posses- 
sions, sold  them  and  brought  the  money  and  laid  it  at  the 
apostles'  feet ;"  and  "  neither  said  any  of  them,  that  ought 
that  he  possessed  was  his  own,  but  they  had  all  things  com- 
mon."    Now  this    proceeding  of  the  first  Christians  was 
wholly  a  spontaneous  gush  of  that  "  charity  which  seeketh 
not  her  own."     The  surrender  of  their  property   into  the 
hands  of  the  apostles  as  common   stock,  for  the  use  of  the 
whole  community,  was  not  demanded — required  by  authority 
of  law — by  precepts  ot  binding  obligation,  which  could  not 
be  disobeyed   without  guilt.     This  is  evident  from  the  re- 
proaches of  Peter  against  Ananias,  "  whilst  it  remained  was 
it  not  thine  own  ?  and  after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine 
ownjwwer  ?"  If  a  community  of  goods  was  an  integral  and  es- 
sential attribute  of  the  church-state,  and  conformity  to  it  an 
indispensable    and  universal  qualification   for  membership, 
and  no  one  could  be,  either  in  the  sight  of  God  or  of  man,  a 
believer  in  Christ  and  a  partaker  of  his  salvation  except  on 
that  condition,  the  language  of  Peter  to  Ananias  would  be 
either  unintelligible  or  indefensible.     It  is  most  evident  that 
Ananias  might  have  retained  his  land  or  his  money  "  in  his 
own  power,"  and  meted  out  his  charity  in  his  own  time  and 
way,  without  justly  exposing  himself  to  censure.     The  ques- 
tion was,  not  whether  the  first  disciples  should  possess  and 
exercise  that  "  charity  which  seeketh  not  her  own;"  but 
whether  it  should  be  exercised  in  that  way,  viz.,  by  throw- 
ing their  goods  into  common  stock,  and  parting  with  the  in- 
dividual possession  and  discretionary  disposition,  each  of 


14  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

his  own.  By  the  uncalled-for  and  spontaneous  election  of 
that  particular  mode  of  appropriating  their  own  goods  on 
the  part  of  a  few  of  the  most  opulent  of  the  disciples,  a  prin- 
ciple was  brought  into  the  church  ;  and  which  spread  by 
imitation,  and  not  by  legislation.  The  adoption  of  the 
principle  was  not  required  of  any  who  did  not  see  cause  to 
"  go  and  do  likewise."  As  those  who  set  the  example,  were 
moved  to  it  by  the  free  exercise  of  their  private  judgment 
and  belief  as  to  the  best  method  of  observing  that  "  charity," 
which  as  a  law  was  binding  on  all,  so  likewise  every  other 
member  was  at  liberty  to  imitate  the  example  or  not,  with- 
out being  liable  to  the  suspicion  or  charge  of  being  destitute 
of  charity  and  brotherly  love.  So  in  the  present  case,  we 
admit  that  there  is  full  liberty  for  all  to  retain  the  right  to 
use  fermented  drinks  (under  the  previous  and  universal  law 
of"  temperance  in  all  things,"  which  binds  us  all  by  the  au- 
thority of  God,  and  which  obligation  can  be  neither  in- 
creased nor  diminished  by  the  opinions  of  men,)  and  to 
select  that  mode  of  exercising  the  virtue  of  temperance 
which  may  seem  to  him  the  best,  subject  to  the  common  law 
of  right  reason  and  true  benevolence,  "  so  to  use  that  which 
is  our  own,  as  not  to  injure  our  neighbor."  Now  the  pres- 
ent posture  of  public  morals,  in  the  judgment  of  able  and 
good  men,  seems  to  require  an  example  of  the  free  surren- 
der of  the  right  of  using,  as  a  beverage,  all  unadulterated  fer- 
mented drinks.  Freely  they  have  selected  this  method  of 
curbing  the  intemperate  and  pernicious  use  of  fermented 
liquors,  (the  most  of  which,  as  commonly  sold  and  circulated 
in  this  country,  are  noxious  compounds  of  distilled  spirits  and 
poisonous  drugs,)  and  consequently  the  example  is  proposed 
for  the  imitation  of  others.  This  method  of  proceeding  on 
the  grounds  above  stated,  we  call  a  principle ;  and  this  is 
recommended  to  all  the  temperance  societies  in  the  state, 
and  to  all  the  friends  of  morals  and  religion  amongst  us. 
For  we  maintain  that  in  this  matter  "  we  have  been  called  to 
liberty ;  only  we  are  not  to  use  liberty  for  an  occasion  to  the 

jlesll,  but  BY   LOVE  TO  SERVE  ONE  ANOTHER." 

As  to  distilled  spirits,  we  are  all  agreed  that  the  right  to 
use  them  as  a  beverage  does  not,  and  never  did  exist.  We 
have  no  warrant  from  Scripture  to  that  effect.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  most  competent  judges,  and  their  effects  when 
used  as  a  beverage,  unitedly  demonstrate  that  they  are 
everyway  unfit  for  use  as  one  of  the  aliments  of  the  human 


THE    WINE    QUESTION.  15 

bodv.  The  unqualified  and  absolute  obligation  to  put  them 
away,  may  be  asserted  without  scruple.  A  pledge  to  that 
effect  can  be  made  with  perfect  safety,  for  it  will  not,  directly 
or  indirectly,  nearly  or  remotely,  impinge  on  any  article  of 
faith,  or  rule  of  duty. 

Lest  any  one  should  infer  that  we  have  given  an  undue 
prominence  to  one  side  of  the  question  about  fermented 
liquors,  and  that  what  we  have  said  on  the  lawfulness  of 
using  pure  wine  may  be  perverted  to  a  bad  end  by  those 
who  desire  a  cloak  for  their  luxury  and  excess,  we  distinctly 
and  emphatically  declare,  that  out  of  regard  to  those  who 
are  in  danger  of  falling  a  prey  to  drunkenness  by  means  of 
wine  and  other  fermented  liquors,  as  well  as  by  distilled 

Spirits,  WE  THINK  IT  TO  BE  OUR  DUTY,  AS  WHOLESOME 
MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMUNITY  AND  AS  CHRISTIANS,  TO  ABSTAIN 
FROM    ALL    FERMENTED     DRINKS     AS     A     BEVERAGE.         But    in 

order  that  our  example  in  this  case  may  be  blameless  on  all 
sides,  we  deem  it  of  special  importance  to  state,  without  ambi- 
guity or  concealment,  the  grounds  of  our  belief  and  practice. 
We  would  not  confound  things  that  differ,  nor  sanction  opin- 
ions which  militate  against  the  perfection  of  the  word  and 
ordinances  of  Christ,  or  which  expose  the  temperance  sys- 
tem to  the  contempt  of  judicious  and  experienced  men. 

Having  in  this  manner,  as  we  hope,  foreclosed  all  objec- 
tions drawn  from  the  sacred  Scriptures  on  the  intrinsic  law- 
fulness of  using  pure  wine,  on  all  proper  occasions,  we  can- 
not close  this  address  without  lifting  our  warning  voice 
against  the  gross  wresting  of  the  Scriptures  by  "  unstable 
men"  "  to  their  own  destruction,"  which  so  fearfully  prevails. 
Under  cover  of  the  Bible,  as  they  most  profanely  pretend, 
how  many  there  are,  in  the  circles  of  wealth  and  fashion,  as 
well  as  among  multitudes  of  our  youth,  who  are  rioting  in 
"  excess  of  wine !"  Without  all  contradiction,  immense  quan- 
tities of  counterfeit  liquors  are  freely  made,  and  sold,  and 
drank,  which  are  more  deadly  than  even  unadulterated  spir- 
its. No  man  is  safe  from  the  poison  of  the  drugged  and 
counterfeit  wine,  ale  and  cider,  who  drinks  at  all  at  the  bar 
of  taverns,  or  who  sends  his  vessel  to  be  rilled  at  most  of  the 
wine-selling  shops.  At  this  juncture  we  are  called  upon  to 
beware  of  every  thing  of  the  kind.  Persons  in  health  will 
suffer  no  inconvenience  from  the  disuse  of  fermented  liquors 
altogether.  The  cases  wherein  they  are  necessary  are  so 
few,  and  the  amount  required  so  small,  that  by  a  little  pains- 


16  THE    WINE    QUESTION. 

taking  they  may  be  procured  in  a  pure  state,  and  all  danger 
and  offence  be  avoided. 

We  flatter  ourselves  that  the  foregoing  views  will  be 
acceptable  to  the  great  body  of  sober  and  benevolent  men 
in  our  State.  Let  us  then  cultivate  harmony,  and  with  united 
hearts  and  hands  go  forward  with  our  great  and  necessary 
work,  looking  unto  God,  "  the  giver  of  every  good  and  per- 
fect gift,"  for  his  presence,  protection  and  blessing. 
In  behalf  of  the  Committee, 

N.  Hewit,  Chairman. 

Bridgeport,  Oct.  9th,  1836. 


Pr.ncelon  Theological  ^'"Jinnim' 


1012  01082  0258 


DATE  DUE 

MAP    ,^ 

Mj^jP^HWI 

* 

GAYLORD 

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